By Merrily Helgeson
Correspondent

Wisconsin’s Manure Management Task Force had barely finished its study of spring 2005 manure spills when the risks of spring 2006 kicked in.

A March 8 state agriculture department news release warned farmers to not spread liquid manure on frozen ground if snow is melting or rain is forecast. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources reminded livestock farmers that manure runoff polluted lakes and rivers, contaminated wells and caused fish kills last spring.

On March 2, Manure Management Task Force co-chairmen handed in a final report to the secretaries of the DNR and the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.

Co-chairman Brian Rude of Coon Valley, a state agriculture board member, called the document “a real platform for moving forward.”

The other co-chairman, Steve Born of Madison, a Trout Unlimited member, said agriculture had resisted regulation, some calling the task force the “manure Gestapo.”

Increased state regulation was urged in only one area: manure hauling. The DATCP should develop licensing and certification to train and regulate manure haulers and new laws should apply to contract haulers and medium- and large-scale livestock operators, task force members recommended.

The task force recommended that education, incentives and planning be used to help livestock farmers develop winter spreading plans to keep liquid manure off high-risk fields. Farmers also would be encouraged to work with counties to develop emergency-response plans to contain and clean up manure spills and overflows.

The report called for a manure-spreading advisory system, perhaps handled through a Web site, to warn farmers not to spread manure when melt conditions or rain are predicted. And it asked for a pilot program “to test the effectiveness of limited enforcement and other incentives for farmers that meet standards for superior environmental performance.”

The DNR’s well compensation program, currently covering only chemicals, should be expanded to provide payments to families whose wells have been contaminated by manure, the task force said.

Also, the state should provide $7 million to $14 million annually to fund nutrient-management plans. A state program requiring farmers to develop conservation plans by 2008 but without adequate funding “is a charade,” Mr. Born said.

The task force organized in July 2005 and met monthly through January.

Fifteen of its members endorsed the final recommendations. The lone holdout, Madison environmental lawyer Andrew Hansen, wrote in a dissenting opinion appended to the report: “Each manure spill, each rural family who becomes ill because their well is contaminated with manure, and each fish kill further damages the reputation of the livestock industry and reduces public confidence in agriculture’s ability to protect and preserve Wisconsin’s rural landscape. Accountability is the answer to ensure public confidence in agriculture’s ability to protect public waters from mishandled animal waste.”

Some members said the outlines of any future regulation might be seen in Dane County’s new ordinance governing winter spreading of manure. Under the new ordinance, farmers must obtain a winter-spreading permit by Nov. 1, and the permit would be issued only after the county has approved a winter spreading plan.

The rate at which manure may be applied to fields is to be determined by the slope of the field: 0-2 percent slope: 7,000 gallons/acre; 3-6 percent slope: 6,000 gallons/acre; 7-12 percent slope: 5,000 gallons per acre more than 12 percent slope: spreading prohibited.